House adopts amendment to raise disabled-parking fines to seed state employment program for people with disabilities

The House took up First Substitute House Bill 370 on Feb. 27 and adopted Amendment No. 1, which corrected a typographical error and replaced the word "fee" with "fine" in the bill text.

Representative Stephen Mascaro, the sponsor, explained the bill is aimed at hiring more qualified people with disabilities by creating a modest increase in disabled-parking penalties to generate seed funding for the Alternative State Application Program (ASAP). Mascaro said the program was developed following a 2007 executive order directing state agencies and the Governor's Committee on the Employment of People with Disabilities to pursue Utah as a model employer.

In floor remarks, Mascaro described the funding structure as a small increase in the fine for illegal parking in disabled spaces, with a portion retained by municipalities for administrative processing and the remainder forwarded to the Department of Human Resources to implement ASAP. The sponsor cited a program-start figure of roughly $33,000 to support implementation and said agency leadership supported the effort.

During debate, Mascaro moved Amendment No. 1 to fix a typographical error. On the amendment he noted that "that word fee should be lined out and corrected with the word fine," and the body approved the amendment on voice. The full bill discussion followed, with Mascaro describing program elements and administrative flow.

Representative Harper said he would support the program’s goals but opposed the funding mechanism. "I'm not debating the merits of the program. I just have a little bit of heartburn of raising a fine and a fee to go through and fund something rather than go through and be a kind of disincentive…We'll be voting no on the bill," Harper said.

The House adopted the amendment; a final passage vote on the underlying bill did not appear on the record before the end of the provided transcript.